Cashfree Payments Secures PPI Licence From RBI to Expand Digital Payment Solutions

Cashfree Payments Secures PPI Licence From RBI to Expand Digital Payment Solutions

Fintech company Cashfree Payments has obtained regulatory approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to function as a prepaid payment instrument (PPI) provider, allowing the firm to issue prepaid payment solutions such as digital wallets and cards. The Bengaluru-based Cashfree Payments joins the expanding group of 46 RBI-approved PPI providers, with the new license expected to boost its ability to deliver innovative digital payment services for businesses across India.

Cashfree Payments, which already holds RBI’s Payment Aggregator (PA) and Payment Aggregator-Cross Border (PA-CB) licenses, now gains further operational reach within the digital payments market. “The PPI licence opens up new opportunities for us to innovate within the payments landscape, helping internet-based businesses retain and grow their customer base,” said Akash Sinha, CEO and co-founder of Cashfree Payments. In December of the previous year, the company received the RBI’s green light to operate as a payment aggregator, allowing it to resume onboarding merchants after a regulatory ban that lasted nearly a year. By July, Cashfree Payments became one of the first non-bank entities to receive the PA-CB licence, permitting it to provide payment aggregator services for cross-border transactions.

Backed by prominent investors, including Y Combinator, Apis Partners, and State Bank of India, Cashfree Payments reportedly serves over 600,000 businesses, processing more than $80 billion in transactions annually. Originally incubated by PayPal, Cashfree Payments has been able to expand through regulatory support, enabling the fintech company to scale its offerings and better serve India’s rapidly growing digital economy.

This month also saw Piramal Payment Services, a subsidiary of Piramal Capital & Housing Finance, receiving the RBI’s authorization to operate its prepaid payment service, branded as Piramal Pay. According to the RBI, prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) provide users with a medium for purchasing goods, conducting financial services, and enabling remittances, all based on the value of money stored within the instrument.